UM ORSP Proposal Reviewer COI & Confidentiality.pdf

No Use of Insider Information

If your designation as an ORSP Proposal Reviewer gives you access to information not generally available to other members of the University of Mississippi community, you must neither use that information for your benefit nor make it available for the personal benefit of any other individual or organization.

Your Obligation to Maintain the Confidentiality of Proposals and Applicants

ORSP receives proposals in confidence and protects the confidentiality of their contents from those not involved with the proposal, or who do not have a legitimate institutional need to know the contents. For this reason, you must not copy, quote, or otherwise use or disclose to anyone, including your graduate students or post-doctoral or research associates, any material from any proposal you are asked by an ORSP Administrator to review. You shall keep any such proposal, and the information therein confidential, properly stored and maintained, and you shall destroy said proposal and information once the review is completed and returned.

If you are conducting a Non-Competitive Review of a proposal at the direct or indirect request of an Investigator, please obtain permission from that Investigator before disclosing either contents of the proposal, or the name of the Investigator, to other entities.

Confidentiality of Competitive Review Process, Reviewer Names, and Proposer Information

As mentioned, certain ORSP programs—such as seed grants competitions, limited submissions down-select competitions, and graduate and undergraduate student grant competitions, among others—involve competitions for limited internal resources. ORSP keeps the identity of Competitive Reviewers confidential to the maximum extent possible, except that we routinely share them with the proposing Investigator(s), without your name or identifying information.

Please respect the confidentiality of all Investigators in such competitions, as well as the confidentiality of other Reviewers. Do not disclose their identities, the relative assessments or rankings of proposals, or other details about the review of competitive proposals.

Conflicts of Interest

As an ORSP Proposal Reviewer for some types of internal or external competitions, you may be assigned a proposal where you have a potential conflict of interest, or where a reasonable third party might perceive you to have a conflict of interest, in serving as a Reviewer. As these conflicts emerge, please bring them to the immediate attention of the appropriate ORSP Administrator, who will determine next steps. If the conflict is considered judged to be significant or not easily managed, or if you do not wish to review an application for any reason (stated or unstated), then that application will be removed from your to-review list.

Examples of Conflicts of Interest in Competitive Reviews

The following list is intended to be illustrative of, but not an exhaustive collection of, the types of conflicts of interest that may exist between a Reviewer and an Investigator in a Competitive Review situation. Note: not all examples are conflicts for every proposal review type, and some conflicts may be manageable, once disclosed.

1) Current supervisory relationship between investigator and reviewer
2) Collaboration (within the last 48 months) between investigator and reviewer
3) Current or past advisory relationship between investigator and reviewer
4) Current or past mentor relationship between investigator and reviewer
5) Known family relationship (spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, etc.)
6) Current business or professional partnership between investigator and reviewer
7) Close personal friendship between investigator and reviewer
8) Investigator and Reviewer are competitors for resources related to this proposal
9) History of grievance between the investigator and reviewer
10) Other

YOUR CERTIFICATION

Your Potential Conflicts

I understand that I must notify the appropriate ORSP Administrator if a Conflict of Interest exists or arises during my service as an ORSP Reviewer. I further understand while this Certification does not have an expiration date, ORSP may periodically require a refresh.

Maintaining the Confidentiality of Others

I will not divulge or use any confidential information, described above, that I may become aware of during my service.

Your Confidentiality

I understand my identity as a Competitive Reviewer of specific proposals will be kept confidential to the maximum extent possible, except that copies of written reviews that I submit will be made available to the Investigator(s) without my name and affiliation.

Reviewer’s Name (Please Print):